An Interview With the CEO of Vysnova Partners, Carlos Rivera
Tell me a little bit about Carlos Rivera.
More than anything, I am a family man who has been married for over forty years, I’m a father to four great kids and a grandfather of three. I am also a retired U.S. Navy veteran who went on to form several successful small businesses and gets the privilege to share what I learned with others by serving on several boards, speaking at industry events, and volunteering as an instructor and mentor to other small business owners. My professional background is as a Healthcare Administrator with a specialization in Health Information Systems and Program Management.
What does Vysnova mean to you as the President and Founder?
After leaving my first company, forming Vysnova Partners gave me an opportunity to take the lessons learned as a small business CEO in the previous fifteen years and apply them to create a new small business with a narrower focus; this is what we call our “why” and what has made us very purpose-driven and successful.
What is Vysnova’s “Why” and why is it important to you?
Vysnova’s “Why” or purpose is to “Improve the lives of people that live in the communities that we serve”. We do this by designing and implementing well-managed programs for our clients on a global basis.
Our program management teams are hyper-focused on three key project metrics:
1) Managing performance (i.e., deliverables, quality)
2) Managing cost
3) Meeting the client’s schedule.
By focusing on key metrics, we make sure that project resources are used appropriately and the program meets its goals.
Furthermore, Vysnova primarily focuses on three service areas: Global Health (i.e., medical services, public health, life science research), International Development (i.e., program implementation, capacity building, monitoring, and evaluation), and Federal Acquisition Programs (i.e., acquisition support to federal agencies, federal workforce development). Almost 90% of our work is in global health.
Since the majority of our work is in the management of public health programs that ultimately improve peoples’ health, the most important thing to me is that the project yields the desired results.
What are the biggest challenges as an employer for a public health research management company?
Since public health and life science research equates to almost 90% of our contract base, finding qualified candidates in a timely manner is our major challenge. This challenge is compounded since, as a government contractor, we need to recruit staff in the short time frame involved during the bid stage not knowing if we will be successful in winning the contract. This means that we need to implement a “pervasive” recruitment strategy where we are looking for qualified people 24/7.
What are the qualities that you look for when interviewing a prospective new hire for Vysnova?
In addition to the required technical skills, we look for people that have a strong commitment to the same “why” as Vysnova. We look for examples of good character, strong ethics, ability to work in a team, ability to both lead and follow, and empathy.
Many companies are known for certain things, for example, when you think of Gerber, you automatically think of great quality baby products. What do you want Vysnova known for in the future?
Vysnova is known for being an excellent program implementation partner by both our clients and our partners. This is further demonstrated by the fact that we have almost fifty institutional, academic, and commercial partners that have been working with us for almost as long as the firm has been around.
